EconoIndicators

Employment Situation At a Glance

• Total Employment: 143,338 million
• Nonfarm Payroll Employment: 135,489 million
• Monthly Change: Down 524,000
• Unemployed Persons: 11,108 million
• Unemployment Rate: 7.2%
• Change: Up 0.4%

Technorati Tags: employment, situation, unemployment, report

THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION: DECEMBER 2008

Nonfarm payroll employment declined sharply in December, and the unemployment
rate rose from 6.8 to 7.2 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S.
Department of Labor reported today. Payroll employment fell by 524,000 over the
month and by 1.9 million over the last 4 months of 2008. In December, job losses
were large and widespread across most major industry sectors.

Unemployment (Household Survey Data)

In December, the number of unemployed persons increased by 632,000 to 11.1 mil-
lion and the unemployment rate rose to 7.2 percent. Since the start of the reces-
sion in December 2007, the number of unemployed persons has grown by 3.6 million,
and the unemployment rate has risen by 2.3 percentage points. (See table A-1.)

The unemployment rates for adult men (7.2 percent), adult women (5.9 percent),
and whites (6.6 percent) increased in December. The jobless rates for teenagers
(20.8 percent), blacks (11.9 percent), and Hispanics (9.2 percent) were little
changed over the month. The unemployment rate for Asians was 5.1 percent in Decem-
ber, not seasonally adjusted. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

Among the unemployed, the number of job losers and persons who completed tempo-
rary jobs rose by 315,000 to 6.5 million in December. Over the past 12 months, the
size of this group has increased by 2.7 million. (See table A-8.) The number of
long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) rose to 2.6 million in
December and was up by 1.3 million in 2008. (See table A-9.)

———————————————————————–
| |
| Revision of Seasonally Adjusted Household Survey Data |
| |
| Seasonally adjusted household survey data have been revised using |
|updated seasonal adjustment factors, a procedure done at the end of |
|each calendar year. Seasonally adjusted estimates back to January 2004|
|were subject to revision. The unemployment rates for January-November |
|2008 (as originally published and as revised) appear on page 5, along |
|with additional information about the revisions. |
| |
———————————————————————–

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Table A. Major indicators of labor market activity, seasonally adjusted
(Numbers in thousands)
_______________________________________________________________________________
| | |
| Quarterly | |
| averages | Monthly data | Nov.-
Category |_________________|__________________________| Dec.
| | | | | | change
| III | IV | Oct. | Nov. | Dec. |
| 2008 | 2008 | 2008 | 2008 | 2008 |
_________________________|________|________|________|________|________|________
|
HOUSEHOLD DATA | Labor force status
|_____________________________________________________
| | | | | |
Civilian labor force ….| 154,650| 154,648| 154,878| 154,620| 154,447| -173
Employment …………| 145,299| 144,046| 144,657| 144,144| 143,338| -806
Unemployment ……….| 9,350| 10,602| 10,221| 10,476| 11,108| 632
Not in labor force ……| 79,460| 80,177| 79,734| 80,208| 80,588| 380
|________|________|________|________|________|________
|
| Unemployment rates
|_____________________________________________________
| | | | | |
All workers ………….| 6.0| 6.9| 6.6| 6.8| 7.2| 0.4
Adult men ………….| 5.8| 6.8| 6.4| 6.7| 7.2| .5
Adult women ………..| 5.0| 5.6| 5.4| 5.6| 5.9| .3
Teenagers ………….| 19.7| 20.7| 20.7| 20.4| 20.8| .4
White ……………..| 5.4| 6.3| 6.0| 6.2| 6.6| .4
Black or African | | | | | |
American …………| 10.7| 11.5| 11.3| 11.3| 11.9| .6
Hispanic or Latino | | | | | |
ethnicity ………..| 7.8| 8.9| 8.8| 8.6| 9.2| .6
|________|________|________|________|________|________
|
ESTABLISHMENT DATA | Employment
|_____________________________________________________
| | | | | |
Nonfarm employment…….| 137,331|p136,033| 136,597|p136,013|p135,489| p-524
Goods-producing (1)….| 21,351| p20,844| 21,049| p20,867| p20,616| p-251
Construction ……..| 7,141| p6,929| 7,019| p6,934| p6,833| p-101
Manufacturing …….| 13,423| p13,115| 13,234| p13,130| p12,981| p-149
Service-providing (1)..| 115,980|p115,189| 115,548|p115,146|p114,873| p-273
Retail trade (2)…| 15,259| p15,043| 15,132| p15,032| p14,966| p-67
Professional and | | | | | |
business services .| 17,849| p17,574| 17,708| p17,563| p17,450| p-113
Education and health | | | | | |
services ……….| 18,975| p19,058| 19,012| p19,059| p19,104| p45
Leisure and | | | | | |
hospitality …….| 13,627| p13,505| 13,557| p13,490| p13,468| p-22
Government ……….| 22,504| p22,510| 22,510| p22,507| p22,514| p7
|________|________|________|________|________|________
|
| Hours of work (3)
|_____________________________________________________
| | | | | |
Total private ………..| 33.7| p33.4| 33.5| p33.5| p33.3| p-0.2
Manufacturing ………| 40.8| p40.2| 40.4| p40.3| p39.9| p-.4
Overtime …………| 3.7| p3.3| 3.5| p3.3| p3.0| p-.3
|________|________|________|________|________|________
|
| Indexes of aggregate weekly hours (2002=100)(3)
|_____________________________________________________
| | | | | |
Total private ………..| 106.6| p104.5| 105.3| p104.7| p103.5| p-1.2
|________|________|________|________|________|________
|
| Earnings (3)
|_____________________________________________________
Average hourly earnings, | | | | | |
total private ………| $18.12| p$18.30| $18.23| p$18.31| p$18.36| p$0.05
Average weekly earnings, | | | | | |
total private ………| 610.15| p611.83| 610.71| p613.39| p611.39| p-2.00
_________________________|________|________|________|________|________|________

1 Includes other industries, not shown separately.
2 Quarterly averages and the over-the-month change are calculated using
unrounded data.
3 Data relate to private production and nonsupervisory workers.
p = preliminary.
NOTE: Seasonally adjusted household data have been revised.
See note on page 5.

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Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

The civilian labor force (154.4 million) and the labor force participation rate
(65.7 percent) were little changed in December. The employment-population ratio fell
by 0.4 percentage point to 61.0 percent over the month and by 1.7 percentage points
in 2008. (See table A-1.)

In December, the number of persons who worked part time for economic reasons (some-
times referred to as involuntary part-time workers) continued to increase, reaching
8.0 million. The number of such workers rose by 3.4 million over the past 12 months.
This category includes persons who would like to work full time but were working part
time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find full-
time jobs. (See table A-5.)

Persons Not in the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

About 1.9 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) were marginally attached to the
labor force in December, 564,000 more than 12 months earlier. These individuals wanted
and were available for work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months.
They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks
preceding the survey. Among the marginally attached, there were 642,000 discouraged work-
ers in December, up by 279,000 from a year earlier. Discouraged workers are persons not
currently looking for work specifically because they believe no jobs are available for
them. The other 1.3 million persons marginally attached to the labor force in December
had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school
attendance or family responsibilities. (See table A-13.)

Industry Payroll Employment (Establishment Survey Data)

Total nonfarm payroll employment declined sharply (-524,000) in December. Over the
past 4 months, payroll employment has fallen by 1.9 million, or 1.4 percent. In Decem-
ber, large job losses continued in manufacturing, construction, and employment services,
while health care continued to add jobs. (See table B-1.)

Manufacturing employment fell by 149,000 in December, the largest over-the-month de-
cline since August 2001. Factory job losses totaled 791,000 in 2008, with nearly half
of the decrease occurring in the fourth quarter. In December, declines were widespread
among the component industries. The largest job losses occurred in fabricated metal
products (-28,000) and motor vehicles and parts (-21,000).

Employment in construction continued to decline (-101,000) in December and has fallen
by 899,000 since peaking in September 2006. Over the month, job losses occurred through-
out the industry.

Within professional and business services, the temporary help industry lost 81,000
jobs in December, bringing job losses in 2008 to 490,000. In December, employment
also fell in the management of companies and enterprises (-8,000) and in architectural
and engineering services (-7,000).

Employment in retail trade declined by 67,000 in December and by 522,000 for all of
2008. More than half of the losses in 2008 occurred in the last 4 months of the year.
In December, employment decreased in automobile dealerships (-22,000), furniture and
home furnishing stores (-8,000), and electronics and appliance stores (-5,000). Whole-
sale trade employment fell by 30,000 over the month and by 164,000 in 2008.

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Elsewhere in the service-providing sector, employment in transportation and ware-
housing declined by 24,000 in December, with losses in truck transportation (-16,000)
and air transportation (-4,000). The information industry lost 20,000 jobs over the
month. Food services employment continued to trend downward (-20,000) and has de-
creased by 104,000 since its recent peak in June 2008. Employment in financial
activities edged down in December and fell by 148,000 in 2008.

Health care employment continued to grow in December (32,000), with over-the-month
job gains in ambulatory services (14,000) and hospitals (12,000). In 2008, health care
added 372,000 jobs.

The change in total nonfarm employment for October was revised from -320,000 to
-423,000, and the change for November was revised from -533,000 to -584,000. Monthly
revisions result from additional sample reports and the monthly recalculation of sea-
sonal factors.

Weekly Hours (Establishment Survey Data)

In December, the average workweek for production and nonsupervisory workers on pri-
vate nonfarm payrolls fell by 0.2 hour to 33.3 hours, seasonally adjusted–the lowest
level on record for the series, which began in 1964. The manufacturing workweek, at
39.9 hours, declined by 0.4 hour over the month, and factory overtime, at 3.0 hours,
declined by 0.3 hour. (See table B-2.)

The index of aggregate weekly hours of production and nonsupervisory workers on
private nonfarm payrolls fell by 1.1 percent in December and 4.0 percent since peaking
in December 2007. The manufacturing index declined by 2.4 percent over the month.
(See table B-5.)

Hourly and Weekly Earnings (Establishment Survey Data)

In December, average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory workers on
private nonfarm payrolls rose by 5 cents, or 0.3 percent, seasonally adjusted. This
followed gains of 8 cents in November and 6 cents in October. For all of 2008, average
hourly earnings increased by 3.7 percent and average weekly earnings rose by 2.2 percent.
(See table B-3.)

______________________________

The Employment Situation for January 2009 is scheduled to be released on Friday, Feb-
ruary 6, at 8:30 A.M. (EST).

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Revision of Seasonally Adjusted Household Survey Data

At the end of each calendar year, BLS routinely updates the seasonal
adjustment factors for the labor force series derived from the Current
Population Survey (CPS), or household survey. As a result of this
process, seasonally adjusted data for January 2004-November 2008 were
subject to revision.

Table B shows the unemployment rates for January to November 2008, as
first published and as revised. The rates were unchanged in 5 of the 11
months and changed by one-tenth of a percentage point in the remaining 6
months. Revised seasonally adjusted data for other major labor force
series beginning in December 2007 appear in table C.

An article describing the seasonal adjustment methodology for the
household survey data and revised data for January 2008-November 2008
is available at http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsrs2009.pdf.

Historical data for the household series contained in the A tables of
this release can be accessed at http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsatabs.htm.
Revised historical seasonally adjusted monthly and quarterly data for
additional series are available on the Internet at ftp://ftp.bls.gov/
pub/special.requests/lf/.

Table B. Seasonally adjusted unemployment rates and changes due to
revision, January-November 2008

Year and month As first As Change
published revised

2008

January …………… 4.9 4.9 0.0
February ………….. 4.8 4.8 .0
March …………….. 5.1 5.1 .0
April …………….. 5.0 5.0 .0
May ………………. 5.5 5.5 .0
June ……………… 5.5 5.6 .1
July ……………… 5.7 5.8 .1
August ……………. 6.1 6.2 .1
September …………. 6.1 6.2 .1
October …………… 6.5 6.6 .1
November ………….. 6.7 6.8 .1

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HOUSEHOLD DATA HOUSEHOLD DATA

Table C. Employment status of the civilian population by sex and age, seasonally adjusted

2007 2008
Employment status, sex, and age

Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec.

TOTAL

Civilian noninstitutional population(1) 233,156 232,616 232,809 232,995 233,198 233,405 233,627 233,864 234,107 234,360 234,612 234,828 235,035
Civilian labor force……………… 153,836 153,873 153,498 153,843 153,932 154,510 154,400 154,506 154,823 154,621 154,878 154,620 154,447
Participation rate………….. 66.0 66.1 65.9 66.0 66.0 66.2 66.1 66.1 66.1 66.0 66.0 65.8 65.7
Employed………………………. 146,294 146,317 146,075 146,023 146,257 145,974 145,738 145,596 145,273 145,029 144,657 144,144 143,338
Employment-population ratio….. 62.7 62.9 62.7 62.7 62.7 62.5 62.4 62.3 62.1 61.9 61.7 61.4 61.0
Unemployed…………………….. 7,541 7,555 7,423 7,820 7,675 8,536 8,662 8,910 9,550 9,592 10,221 10,476 11,108
Unemployment rate…………… 4.9 4.9 4.8 5.1 5.0 5.5 5.6 5.8 6.2 6.2 6.6 6.8 7.2

Men, 20 years and over

Civilian noninstitutional population(1) 104,197 103,866 103,961 104,052 104,152 104,258 104,371 104,490 104,613 104,741 104,869 104,978 105,083
Civilian labor force……………… 78,943 78,907 78,806 78,866 78,820 78,913 79,055 79,286 79,308 79,392 79,380 79,335 78,998
Participation rate………….. 75.8 76.0 75.8 75.8 75.7 75.7 75.7 75.9 75.8 75.8 75.7 75.6 75.2
Employed………………………. 75,496 75,474 75,395 75,216 75,147 74,992 74,949 74,973 74,737 74,503 74,292 74,045 73,285
Employment-population ratio….. 72.5 72.7 72.5 72.3 72.2 71.9 71.8 71.8 71.4 71.1 70.8 70.5 69.7
Unemployed…………………….. 3,446 3,433 3,412 3,650 3,673 3,921 4,106 4,313 4,572 4,889 5,088 5,290 5,714
Unemployment rate…………… 4.4 4.4 4.3 4.6 4.7 5.0 5.2 5.4 5.8 6.2 6.4 6.7 7.2

Women, 20 years and over

Civilian noninstitutional population(1) 111,903 111,739 111,822 111,902 111,990 112,083 112,183 112,290 112,401 112,518 112,633 112,731 112,825
Civilian labor force……………… 67,888 67,982 67,879 68,174 68,118 68,367 68,421 68,273 68,666 68,385 68,700 68,753 68,891
Participation rate………….. 60.7 60.8 60.7 60.9 60.8 61.0 61.0 60.8 61.1 60.8 61.0 61.0 61.1
Employed………………………. 64,976 65,101 64,993 65,079 65,196 65,114 65,169 65,103 65,003 65,008 64,975 64,902 64,860
Employment-population ratio….. 58.1 58.3 58.1 58.2 58.2 58.1 58.1 58.0 57.8 57.8 57.7 57.6 57.5
Unemployed…………………….. 2,912 2,881 2,886 3,095 2,923 3,252 3,252 3,170 3,662 3,377 3,725 3,851 4,031
Unemployment rate…………… 4.3 4.2 4.3 4.5 4.3 4.8 4.8 4.6 5.3 4.9 5.4 5.6 5.9

Both sexes, 16 to 19 years

Civilian noninstitutional population(1) 17,056 17,012 17,027 17,041 17,056 17,064 17,073 17,084 17,092 17,101 17,110 17,118 17,126
Civilian labor force……………… 7,005 6,984 6,813 6,803 6,993 7,231 6,924 6,947 6,849 6,844 6,799 6,531 6,557
Participation rate………….. 41.1 41.1 40.0 39.9 41.0 42.4 40.6 40.7 40.1 40.0 39.7 38.2 38.3
Employed………………………. 5,822 5,742 5,688 5,729 5,914 5,868 5,620 5,520 5,533 5,518 5,390 5,196 5,194
Employment-population ratio….. 34.1 33.8 33.4 33.6 34.7 34.4 32.9 32.3 32.4 32.3 31.5 30.4 30.3
Unemployed…………………….. 1,183 1,241 1,125 1,075 1,079 1,363 1,304 1,427 1,316 1,326 1,408 1,335 1,363
Unemployment rate…………… 16.9 17.8 16.5 15.8 15.4 18.9 18.8 20.5 19.2 19.4 20.7 20.4 20.8

1 The population figures are not adjusted for seasonal variation.
NOTE: Seasonally adjusted data have been revised to reflect updated seasonal adjustment factors.

Source: Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics